Yesterday's ice storm did a lot of damage to the pines in the area. It was preceded by a lot of rain, so when freezing rain and temps fell, the already drenched branches became so heavy that they sagged and in some cases, cracked. I noticed this on my way to campus today and it seemed to me that there must be something this could be compared to; some deeper meaning or symbolism represented by these branches. What is particularly interesting to me is that the water itself usually just runs off the pine needles but once it becomes ice, things change. Maybe this could be compared to having a fluid, open-minded approach to information and ideas, and allowing these things to flow freely. Some ideas/drops of water may linger longer than others and it is possible, even necessary, for a person to absorb some of them - just as a tree needs to absorb some water. But once the ideas become rigid and stop flowing, they become weighty and sometimes even damaging. These rigid ideas also act as a barrier to other things - and it sometimes takes a real effort to break through the barrier, although it can be accomplished more gently with gradual warmth. In "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," C.S. Lewis uses the deep freeze of a lasting winter to accompany and symbolize the rule of an evil tyrant who crushes any who oppose her; a thaw accompanies her defeat and the emergence of new rulers who (presumably) are kind, just, and allow free speech. There are a few different directions I could go from here to try to make my icy tree story more relevant to research or the quest for understanding, but I am going to stop here for now. What meaning can you make out of icy tree branches?
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I read the first chapters of Kvale's interviewing book (Kvale, S., 2007, "Doing Interviews" The Sage Qualitative Research Kit, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA) and I really liked his description of seeking knowledge by being either a 'miner' or a 'traveler.' The first image I had when I wrote the those words in the title of this entry was of Tarot cards and I think I will try to draw these for a later entry. (I used to have a deck of Tarot cards more for the pictures than for any fortune telling although I did try my hand at some of that, too,)
Kvale associates mining with postivism - it is digging for something with some assumption that the something is there; being to some extent certain there is a truth to be discovered. I guess if you do not find it where you are looking, you will just dig somewhere else. Travelers set out on a journey toward knowledge and learn by means of the journey. I found this a very attractive analogy because I have had a few great travel experiences and it seems like the fewer prior arrangements I made, the more chances I had of finding really unique places to stay and meeting interesting people. Being a traveler means that you can turn down some path whenever you feel like it and you are not disappointed when you do not find exactly what you were looking for. Miners, on the other hand, are I think a lot more likely to set themselves up for disappointment. When I think of the goal of a (literal) miner, I can come closer to understanding why researchers who are miners falsify results (or change their research question) - because they are driven to report that they 'found' something. On another subject, I posted an introduction in the discussion board on BB, then I read the only other one (Patricia's) to date. As I read hers, I realized that I mostly represent my identity through my academic pursuits. I am around people much of the time who are constantly talking about theses, dissertations, funding, students, classes, etc., both at school and at home - my husband is working on an MLIS degree and I have two sisters-in-law who completed Ph.D.s during the last few years and another who works as graduate faculty at UMass as does her husband - so I am afraid that I am losing some of my sense of proportion. (Douglas Adams's "Total Perspective Vortex" from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy always pops in my mind when I use the word proportion. But that is an entire journal entry by itself.) When I stop to consider things, I believe that I have a lot of other parts to my identity. I did toss in a throw away remark about my work in insurance, and I did not mention my other two degrees, but I think that in some ways I responded more as if I was writing a cover letter for a faculty job than introducing myself. This reminds me of my first job interview post college (with an insurance company). My soon-to-be boss kept asking me to tell him some things about 'the real Sheryl' and I kept going back to my education, work interests, and basically all of the stuff I picked up in the interviewing class I had taken and I never did tell him anything really person. Of course what is especially interesting about this is how these thoughts parallel the topic of my paper for QRGP 6300 last semester - management of multiple roles. I do not have one of the 'obvious' gender roles of mother, but I have a bundle of things I do besides being a student. |
AuthorI am Sheryl L. Chatfield, Ph.D, C.T.R.S. I am a member of the faculty in the College of Public Health at Kent State University. I also Co-coordinate the Graduate Certificate in Qualitative Research and I am a member of the Design Innovation Team at Kent State. Archives
February 2024
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